1. Pelagir Plains Chapter One A Build a City Challenge, brought to you by Lee.

2. Overnight, on a little plot of land on the far reaches of simearth, in a place called Pelagir Plains by the locals, there appeared a small, two room house. A few garden plots appeared by the small plot of water in the back corner, and whispers jumped from one mouth to another about the strange young woman who had taken up residence there.

3. It was rumored that not only had she managed to build the entire thing in one night, but that she even had running water and that her electricity wasn’t nearly as sporadic as their own. It was even rumored that she wasn’t even really a sim, though that one was widely regarded to be pushing the boundaries of belief.

4. Strangely enough, Ameria Tinder was not a sim. At least, not a sim from this particular planet. She was a rogue woman of her own people and had spent the past several years evading her brother and his henchman amongst the stars. Here she finally felt safe, for who would suspect the pampered girl she had been to take up residence in such a backwards place?

5. The planet was very hospitable for her species, she’d discovered. The plants were much the same, the seasons differed little. Even the life on this planet wasn’t all that different from her own. She began to think that perhaps she could live her life, free, here.

6. The people were a bit strange, she had noticed. For one, the very first one she met had hair the color of the sun! She’d never seen anything but red hair amongst her own people and it was quite a shock-quickly followed by the second and third. They spoke the same language, though it had a funny accent and some words she didn’t understand, and their ears were rounded strangely.

7. For all of that though, they were quite friendly, as far as she could tell. They seemed to be excited when they learned that she wasn’t a sim, and she questioned for a moment if she should have tried to keep that hidden. It was nice, all the same, to have some people to talk to between her chores.

8. One of her best friends was MatokoSpitzg. He was an Elder, so she couldn’t tell what his hair color had once been-the two races shared that in common, at least, going to gray as they aged. Matoko was a wonderful person to talk to and often stopped by just as she finished her gardening to talk with her.

9. She made other friends, as well, of course. There was the young woman with hair the same color as the man she had first met (perhaps these people had sun colored hair?), though they didn’t get along all that well. At least she was able to confirm that the women of this planet were much more free than the females of her own planet.

10. Another of her friends was Amy, the elderly and respected gypsy woman. Though she mostly plied her trade as a matchmaker, she could make potions and she was always willing to offer advice. Ameria spent many an afternoon talking with the aged woman.

11. As the end of her first day drew to a close, Ameria relaxed in her tub, scrubbing away the dirt and grime that had collected on her skin as the day wore on. Overall she quite liked this little, out of the way planet. She even thought she might be happy here.

12. Ameria’s days quickly settled into a routine. She would wake, groggily and yawning, and burn herself some bread that would serve as her breakfast-at least until she woke up enough to taste it, at which point she would feed the rest to the stray animals.

13. After having woken up by the taste of ash, she would tend to her garden rain or shine. Most often it was rain, for summer had ended shortly after she built her house, and the wet autumn season had arrived.

14. After a sandwich that served a late lunch, only meant to tide her over to dinner, she would either call a friend on the telephone or talk to somebody passing by for a few hours. Most often this happened to be Matoko or Annie.

15. As darkness fell she would finished her dinner of cheese and noodles and would wash the dish, along with the dishes of her other meals, in the sink inside.

16. Then she would return outside where she would work on her sewing skill diligently for an hour or so. She had dreams of opening up a small shop to sell her wares, though she had to get the money to do so first. For now she was content to merely sell the things she made for a little bit of cash to help her towards that dream.

17. After her nightly bath she would change into some comfortable pajama’s and head to bed. She had a life any woman from her planet would kill to have, one where she could do what she wanted to do and was free to chase her dreams. Yet, every night as she fell into slumber, she couldn’t help but wish for more.

18. One afternoon, while speaking to Annie, the gypsy let slip a comment about Matoko having feelings for Ameria. Ameria didn’t know what to think about that-she liked Matoko yes, but there were so many factors to consider.

19. She supposed she should have seen that coming though, except that her people didn’t really worry about displaying affection for one another. Now that she had that in the back of her mind, the massages that Matoko offered her took on a new aspect.

20. It didn’t help that she knew she had feelings to him as well, as was evidenced by how the hugs goodbye lingered longer than they needed to. He was old though-old and not even of the same species. If she allowed herself to love him, how long would he be with her? Would she be able to have the family she wanted?

21. She tried not to let those worries show when she was around him though. She didn’t like to see him worrying, especially not about her-he did that enough already, what with her heavy chores that took all day. One day he asked if he could stay the night while they ate supper together-he lived far away, and didn’t want to trek home in the coming dark as tired as he was.

22. Well, what could she have said? No? She wouldn’t have been able to hurt Matoko like that. Nor could she insist that he sleep on the floor when there was a perfectly useful double bed. The fact that more than just sleeping occurred…Well, that wasn’t planned.

23. Not that she regretted it. She thought, maybe, that she had just found what it was that she had been wishing for. So what if he were older than her? So what if she might never have a family? If she couldn’t have one with him, then she never would, unless she returned to her family-and she would never willingly do that.

24. In the morning, Matoko was gone. He had slipped out in the early hours, before the sun had fully risen. Ameria woke to an empty bed and house, with no sign of him. He didn’t answer his phone, he hadn’t left a note. With tears, she skipped breakfast and did her chores-she had thought Matoko wanted more than just a one night stand. She had thought he cared for her.

25. She had just been headed to her sewing machine when she saw a familiar face on the sidewalk. Relief spread over her as she ran to Matoko, who was still spry enough to catch her light frame as she threw herself-quite literally-into his arms.

26. It turned out there had been an emergency-one of the women of the tribes had gone into labor and had nearly died of it-the gypsy woman, the only healer of any sort they had, had had to be called in and Matoko had been the only one to look after her other children as her husband had passed away some time ago.

27. It had taken him longer to get back to her because he had stopped by his home to pick up his belongings-he hoped to move in with her, so that she needn’t toil in her garden alone all day and so that he didn’t have to walk so far to visit. She was quite happy to accept that offer, and they worked on the garden a bit (she’d been quite absentminded earlier, and hadn’t done a good job).

28. The days flew by, still in much the same pattern, but with a few extra things thrown in-not in the least which was Matoko’s constant presence. So really, was it all that hard to imagine Ameria not resisting when one day he drew her into a close hug?

29. Nor when that hug turned out to be more? She couldn’t imagine herself with anybody else. Matoko was the one for her, she was certain of it. What was their to gain by debating on whether or not it was the logical thing to do-logical was what had lead her people to being so cold and cruel.

30. Winter was fast coming and the pair of them worked hard to stock up for the cold season. Her tomato plants were nearly ready and the little pond-which she hadn’t touched save for as a source of water for her plants-proved to be quite full of fish, mysteriously enough.

31. When winter did arrive, the plants were harvested and the fridge was full. They spent little time outside, working instead inside their small-but enlarged home. A bedroom had been added, so Ameria had been able to move her sewing machine inside, which she spent much of the day on while Matoko painted across the room.

32. Towards the middle of winter she began to feel sick, often rushing to the bathroom to empty her stomach of whatever had graced it. Matoko was terribly worried-so was Ameria for that matter. Were the fish of this planet toxic to her, perhaps? She dared not get her hopes up, only to have them dashed.

33. Yet her hopes did rise…And they were not dashed! One morning she ‘popped’ staring in surprise at her enlarged tummy. A child! She would be a mother!

34. Matoko was terribly pleased. He hadn’t expected to ever be a father, as aged as he was-though he still had quite some time left! He pampered his love and was glad that Annie was such a close friend of hers. Carrying the half-blood seemed to take a great toll on her, for she was rarely up for more than a few hours a day.

35. She was, for her part, glad that Matoko had learned to cook quite well, for she was eating enormous amounts. Her servings were twice the size of his! She knew he worried about her but she didn’t feel too bad, merely tired…tired and hungry.

36. On those days that the snow wasn’t heavy, Matoko would go fishing to supplement their supplies, and spend some time (unbeknownst to his love) digging for treasure and thinking. He knew what Ameria’s dream was…and he knew how expensive babies were.

37. Ameria, for her part, could hardly work at her sewing machine for long before retiring to bed. She enjoyed it though, and so made the best of her situation as possible. Matoko had painted a portrait of her, which she hung above the machine and demanded that he paint on of himself to keep her company.

38. Then one day, shortly before she was due to give birth, Matoko lowered himself to a knee and presented a shining ring to her. She had been friends with these sims for long enough to know what an engagement and a marriage meant-and she was all for it.

39. So much so that they exchanged vows right there. She would have a party when spring came, after the baby and when the snows didn’t make travel difficult. Her friends wouldn’t begrudge them this. Matoko chose to take Tinder as his last name, explaining that he had never liked Spitzg.

40. One morning she woke, climbing out of bed with great pain. Matoko ran to the phone to call Annie over, worried about his wife as she screamed in the bedroom. He remembered all to well how they had almost lost Jennifer when she had had her child.

41. Annie got there quickly and helped Ameria to deliver a healthy baby. He was a sweet thing with her green eyes and the strangest black hair she had ever seen-which Matoko confirmed to have been his hair color. They named him Layton.

42. Shortly after his birth, Matoko presented Ameria with a treasure chest-which held just enough to purchase and begin a store, as well as leaving the family with some funds to live off of for a while. Ameria couldn’t have been happier.

43. Nor could have Matoko. He knew he was an elder and that he wouldn’t be likely to live long enough to see his son grow into a young man, but he would surely see his son as a child. He had a wonderful wife and a comfortable home…What more could he want?

44. Why…Who is this dashing young man? You’ll have to wait until next time to find out (and also for better quality pictures, one hopes). Not counting the man above, we have a population of 6 (3 with the multiplier of 2). Her shop can be seen in a picture previous to her purchasing it-I built it before that play session, because I knew one way or another she would be getting it. :]